3 ms·

> The CAREER Award is a special 5-year grant that can only be applied for 3 times by an individual researcher in the first 6ish years of their career. It is dee

> The CAREER Award is a special 5-year grant that can only be applied for 3 times by an individual researcher in the first 6ish years of their career. It is deemed "prestigious" and at many schools it effectively means you'll get tenure. > I was offered the award, but I declined it. Then I resigned from my faculty position and joined industry. OK, we all want to hear more about this right? OP spent a lot of time preparing an application for a very prestigious academic-career-making grant, succeeded in getting it... and then quit!

ab_testing 5y ago
Maybe they just discovered levels.fyi :)
azhenley 5y ago
I might not be very rational :)
- gwerbret 5y ago
  Nevertheless! Care to share your story? What turned you away from academia?
  - azhenley 5y ago
    I wasn’t happy. I shared a bit more detail here: https://austinhenley.com/blog/leavingacademia.html https://austinhenley.com/blog/leavingacademia.html
    - yuuu 5y ago
      How do you cope with the feeling that you're missing out on future prestige?
      - neel_k 5y ago
        Same way that I (who left industry to pursue an academic career because I wasn't happy) cope with the feeling I am missing out on a giant FAANG salary: mostly, I just don't think about it. Like, I have enough money to afford a house and take my kids on vacation from time to time. So having lots of money is something I idly wonder about sometimes, but no critical need is going unmet by its lack. Conversely, if you have a prestigious position, most likely everyone around you does too. For example, I'm a professor, and yes, it makes my mom proud. But all of my colleagues and many of my friends are professors, too. So in terms of day-to-day life, it just doesn't matter much. I think everyone wonders about what might have been. But you can really only make one choice at a time, and so even if you had chosen differently you will still wonder what might have been.
Lascaille 5y ago
>OP spent a lot of time preparing an application for a very prestigious academic-career-making grant, succeeded in getting it He looked into the abyss long enough for it to look back.

ab_testing 5y ago

Maybe they just discovered levels.fyi :)

azhenley 5y ago

I might not be very rational :)

gwerbret 5y ago
Nevertheless! Care to share your story? What turned you away from academia?
- azhenley 5y ago
  I wasn’t happy. I shared a bit more detail here: https://austinhenley.com/blog/leavingacademia.html https://austinhenley.com/blog/leavingacademia.html
  - yuuu 5y ago
    How do you cope with the feeling that you're missing out on future prestige?
    - neel_k 5y ago
      Same way that I (who left industry to pursue an academic career because I wasn't happy) cope with the feeling I am missing out on a giant FAANG salary: mostly, I just don't think about it. Like, I have enough money to afford a house and take my kids on vacation from time to time. So having lots of money is something I idly wonder about sometimes, but no critical need is going unmet by its lack. Conversely, if you have a prestigious position, most likely everyone around you does too. For example, I'm a professor, and yes, it makes my mom proud. But all of my colleagues and many of my friends are professors, too. So in terms of day-to-day life, it just doesn't matter much. I think everyone wonders about what might have been. But you can really only make one choice at a time, and so even if you had chosen differently you will still wonder what might have been.

Lascaille 5y ago

>OP spent a lot of time preparing an application for a very prestigious academic-career-making grant, succeeded in getting it He looked into the abyss long enough for it to look back.